MILLENNIUM PARK - MILLENNIUM PARK BARISTA OF THE MONTH

Nick Harberg is the Millennium Park Café Barista of the Month for November/December 2007.  Nick has been with Intelligentsia for about nine months and he is currently the Assistant Manager.

Nick’s first experience as a Barista came from working at the “it” café in Eau Claire, WI, where years after he started, he ended up managing.  “I fell in love with café culture almost instantly, the people, the atmosphere, all of it.  This love extended beyond just work, I received a grant to write and study coffee house culture.”  Nick finished school and soon came to realize that a degree in philosophy wasn’t opening a ton of doors.  This led him back to coffee and more specifically to his friend Josh Scott (of the lovely Monadnock café) who introduced him to Intelligentsia.  After hearing about Intelligentsia, Nick knew that working for the company was what he wanted to do.  After a long discussion of the current state of black and death metal with Luc (Millennium Park’s then manager), Nick was hired.

Nick’s favorite drink is a cup of coffee on the Clover machine.  “Drip coffee gets such a bad rap due to the way people treat it.  Most shops have it sitting in an airpot for lord knows how long, and then try to convince you that the darker the better.  The Clover unlocks the true potential that the beans have to offer.  I know that it may be outside the norm within barista culture, but I will take a Clover brew over a shot of espresso every day of the week.  Espresso is great, don’t get me wrong, but one can go into any third wave coffee shop and get a good shot, now a good cup of coffee, that is another story.”

Nick’s small amount of spare time is spent, “listening to more music than most people should…..lots of metal…with a little more metal on the side.”  To the humor of his coworkers, “I also enjoy all things ‘fantastical’, i.e. D&D, Lord of the Rings, WH40K, Star Wars, and epic metal with their tales of dragons and heroes saving the world from downfall.”  He also fits in a bit of reading.  “Nothing beats curling up with a hot cup of coffee and flipping through ‘Das Kapital’.”  

About coffee and being a Barista, Nick says, “I enjoy the geekiness that coffee has to offer.  One can go to the far extremes with it.  Talking coffee with people and discussing the difference between extraction times and agtron scores really tickles my fancy.  With the world going to hell in a hand basket, the least I can do is try to give someone a great drink for the ride down.”